Analysts predicted the Egyptian Exchange (EGX) performance to continue going up this week amid strong purchase volumes by foreigners, along with a Saudi-Egyptian reconciliation.

The EGX has seen transactions over 5.4 million shares last week on Madinet Nasr for Housing & Development (MNHD) at EGP 22.4 per share and a total transactions value of EGP 122.3m.

As for Talaat Mostafa Group shares, transactions last week closed up by 13.1% at EGP 9.25 per share. On Thursday alone, the stock climbed by 9.08%, acquiring 7% of market trading value worth EGP 123.39m, while GB Auto shares dropped by 8.5%, closing at EGP 2.6.

Mohamed Fathallah, managing director of El Tawfik, said that foreigners’ purchases were aimed at seizing specific investment opportunities, particularly large size deals on specific shares, and do not represent market trend.

He added that the hike in the dollar value against the Egyptian pound came naturally due to rising demand on imports.

Essam Khalifa, the managing director of Al Ahly Fund and Portfolio Management Company, said that the current period is seeing an exchange of financial positions between foreign and Egyptian institutions, where Egyptians have shown an appetite for buying on Thursday transactions.

He noted that the resumption of oil shipments from Saudi Arabia’s Aramco supported the market at the end of last week, which boosts the chances for a continued positive performance that extends to cover a larger range of stocks.

He added that predicting the foreigners’ behaviour on the EGX in the coming period will be difficult due to the changes in global markets.

Ahmed Abou Ayyad, head of technical analysis department at Mubasher international, said that, last week, transactions gave positive indicators in the market, adding that shares have a good opportunity to continue.

He noted that Thursday transactions registered the highest trading value over seven sessions.

He pointed out that the impact of raising interest on USD on the EGX is very limited, as the market positively reacted to the resumption of Aramco’s shipments to Egypt, which eased the demand on the US dollars in Egypt.